Is n't this a disaster.,ladies and gentlemen?! Abdul-Aziz Ali Omer

What has begun to puzzle many of Sudanese in their follow-up to the aftermath of Sudan-wide spread flooding is the formal insistence on under-estimating the tragic and pitiful situation of homeless under the sun and the rains as not being on par with disaster . Every body raised his eye brow and what was disaster he wondered . An official , a Sudanese national at the Humanitarian Affairs at the Islamic Cooperation Organization on the Air described the on-going devastating floods as " a medium disaster "! Despite the worse damage that are clear as a visa stamp, the minister of finance announced that doesn't qualify Sudan as a disaster zone at the moment. Strictly speaking the rain isn't his job. Let us slip the pressing question about his eligibility to assess the impact of flood. It is important here to cite the substantive report of Interior minister . He revealed the number of houses that didn’t survive the recent spate of floods as 3077,308,409,300,388 in Khartoum, Nile river,Kassala,,North Kurdofan, and white Nile states respectively. What is a disaster ? It is defined by U.N as " a consequence of events triggered by natural hazards that seriously overwhelm the local response capacity …." Obviously , there is helplessness as result of scant capabilities to respond to the disaster by provision of adequate food, medicine and logistical support to the flood affected areas. While the officials keep their denial of admitting what is going on as disaster, in contrast, in recognition of a helping hand, they received the relief assistance from the fraternal state of Qatar that arrived in Khartoum on a directive from his Highness prince of Qatar. The official reports up to this moment raise an alarm of a more potential danger. The minister of electricity and water resources warned against a high river flooding and an ad hoc committee at his ministry called for preventive measure for the benefit of those who live n Khartoum and Nile river state. We are waiting with an abated breath for another formal notice and new fatalities statistics. In his official report , the minister of interior briefed an extraordinary cabinet session chaired by the Sudanese president on the damage of rains and floods that engulfed many parts of Sudan.
He said that rainfall rate surpassed the expectations . This seems realistic compared with other reactions that showed a mixture of coldness and cynicism . The minister of electricity and water resources ridiculed saying the high Nile contributes to a stable electricity supply! From his part, the governor of Khartoum state reacted adding " we need 7 years to set up an underground full-fledged sewerage system: Sudanese before the rainfall, were awakened by sunlight through the windows and now by waters through the doors carrying free fishes as an official riding his car sneered in a cartoon drawing.
One of the advantages of rains and floods: they put in memo of inept officials the need of citizens for safe shelters. The first vice-president ordered a board of enquiry to review ex-housing plans in an affirmation of the rights and dignity of vulnerable. Such a measure revives in mind the issue of land corruption . Saiha, a local Newspaper was closed down for publishing the story of former land commissioner and another official who fleeted to the post of an under-secretary at the ministry of justice .It is said both of them abused their positions owning plots of lands whose cost, the Newspaper estimated as 30 million Sudanese pounds. Such a monopoly of lands unquestionably created a residential crisis that impelled lots of poor masses to live in flood-prone areas.

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